So this is my inaugural post on A2Z Hope. I was considering a dashing, vibrant prose on the finer points of, well, something. A post that was bold and brash to kick things off with. However, I then considered what is truly important to me and it was this:

L-I-F-E

I enjoy the simplistic as much as the ornate. But when you strip everything away what do you have left? You have day-to-day life. For some that involves hardships many of us can never begin to imagine. For others, such an opulent existence as is only in a far off dream for most. But each and every one of us has exactly this: 24 hours. 28,000 (give or take) breaths each day, from sun up to sun down and back til sun up again.

What do you do with your day? What is your L-I-F-E made of, what is it worth, what is its value? Are you giving hope? Are you imparting life, love and laughter? Do you share the gifts and talents that God has given you with those around you?

As you are thinking about your answer ( …this space reserved for thinking… ) I encourage you to consider one thing you can do to impart hope to someone else as soon as you finish reading this post. It doesn’t have to be anything big, only meaningful. A few ideas to get you started: Encourage someone in a project they enjoy. Tell them you believe in them. Let them know you are proud of them. Through even such a small act you are imparting hope and making your life a bit more “worth the living”.

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4 Responses to Worth the Living

“What’s my daily?” is the question I have been asking myself lately. What do I do every day that will shape my life? It’s not the big moments that shape us as much as what we do daily and, like you said, I want the day to be filled with love and laughter. Simplicity is sweet, though I often pursue the crazy dreams. I hope to find God in each. Just His presence, just one word from my Father would make the fulfill the day.

Joel, I appreciate your back to basics post. Shamefully I don’t think about the 28,000 breaths I breath each day. Except maybe when I’m struggling to breath them at the end of a race or on a bitter cold day. It is refreshing to think that what is worthy is actually quite simple. I am frustrated and saddened that the complexities of life and the brokenness of this world robs so many of us of the space and freedom to live this way. I wonder if, in the midst of depravity, poverty, pain, it is still possible to live in the simplicity and joy you describe. Perhaps this is like what Paul writes about in prison when he speaks of being joyful in suffering.

Rob – its an interesting series of questions you’ve put forward. It makes me think about a few pages in a book I’ve been working on reading entitled “Undaunted” by Christine Caine. Faced with a group of women who have survived and recently been rescued from trafficking one of the women says “Where were you, why did you not come and rescue us sooner, and what of the girls who haven’t been rescued?” In the face of that question the author wanted to reply “I didn’t know… I’ve just only learned about this!” but instead she apologized and cried with them, joining with them in their suffering instead of defending herself.

Meredith – your post makes me consider something that has encouraged me in the face of simplicity. A “mystery” as it were. I’ve so enjoyed hearing Heidi and Rolland Baker of Iris Ministries share about some of their pastors and orphaned children living with them. In the midst of what we would consider destitute poverty they are joyful. They praise God for the ability to praise Him. They have only one or two pairs of clothes and yet give away and share even the little they receive. And at the same time there are others I’ve met who are swallowed by the poverty they face, frowns etched in their faces and foreheads, turning to any escape they can find. And even this you find with those that have – are they rejoicing in the life they’ve been given or despising what that do not have. Please know I’m not preaching to anyone – as these words roll off my tongue first toward myself and my own relationship with God, others and the world I live in.

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